LAKELAND, FL-- The Fort Myers Green Wave (27-5) came as prepared as possible and put everything together early and often against Rutherford from Panama City, routing the Rams 63-25 to advance to the Class 4A State Championship. Fort Myers will face (23-8) Oak Ridge in the final game at 3:30 PM on Saturday. Oak Ridge defeated Cardinal Gibbons 56-46 in the other 4A semifinal game.
Fort Myers came out in the first quarter against Rutherford not knowing what to really expect, as there was not much information or scouting material available to build a game plan specific to the Rams, due in part to the distance between the schools and no common opponents in which to gather game film from. Therefore, the Green Wave just came out and played their game and looked to do what they have done all season.
They pressed, using their length to cause nine first quarter turnovers.
They crashed the boards hard, holding a 24-10 rebounding advantage in the first half, including 9 offensive.
They locked down defensively in the half court, holding the Rams to just 17% shooting from the field in the first half.
And offensively they were balanced, made big shots early, and took advantage of Rutherford's turnovers by attacking the basket to get some easy buckets.
Thanks to these keys, and helped a little by the fact that Rutherford seemed to refuse to box out much, Fort Myers pretty much sealed the game by halftime with a 33-10 advantage heading into the locker rooms at the break.
Fort Myers' juniors Evin Graham and Matt Yance started the scoring a couple minutes into the game. After a couple scoreless minutes of the team's looking to work off the pre-game butterflies, Graham hit a trey followed by Yance hitting one, and then Graham knocked down another to give them a 9-0 advantage out of the gate. From there the team's both scored 4 points each the rest of the period, so the Wave held a 13-4 lead at the end of one.
The second quarter saw Fort Myers continue to give Rutherford fits with their full court pressure, with Graham, Yance, and senior Buddy McClendon all getting multiple deflections and steals which turned into fast break layups and open shots. The rebounding disparity for Rutherford also began to allow Fort Myers to stretch their lead over the first four minutes of the second quarter, as the Wave outscored the Rams 14-4 over that stretch to jump out to a 27-8 lead.
At that point it started to become apparent that this game most likely would not get much closer or ever be in doubt.
Fort Myers had five players with 4 or more points at the half, led by Graham with 10, to go along with 5 rebounds and 3 blocks.
In the second half it was more of the same. Senior wing Colin Henry scored 9 of his game-high 15 points, as he continued to muscle his way into the teeth of the Rams defense and punish them inside on the boards. Henry also finished with a game-high 12 rebounds and 3 steals, while making 7 of his 11 field goal attempts, including 1 of 2 trey attempts.
By the time the fourth quarter came around, Fort Myers had already began to pull starters from the game and it did not end up mattering much. The Wave increased their lead to 35 points eventually in the fourth, even with some seldom used reserves in the game, which meant the game would finish with a running clock.
Graham finished with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals, while also hitting 2 of his 4 three-point field goal attempts. Yance checked in with 11 points, and McClendon added 8 points, to go along with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.
Fort Myers Makes Quick Work of Rutherford, Advances to Final
March 5, 2010
Aaron Seybert
SWFLHoops.com
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